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NPD will no longer release monthly hardware/software unit sales
- Thread starter Kobun Heat
- Start date
charlequin
Banned
I AM JOHN! said:
Hmmm.... well, no, upon consideration, it's not really like that at all.
B-Rad Lascelle said:
Oh my god, I didn't see this before. I salute you, valiant warrior. :lol
Reginald P. Linux said:
Why does boxart matter? Why do development details and postmortems matter? Why apply any type of analysis or thought to the issue at all, by this standard?
People with enough interest in a topic will want to think about and discuss aspects of that topic beyond the most simplistic hurt/heal level. Market analysis is common in every hobby where any kind of sales numbers are made public (i.e. any hobby where many of the major competitors are publicly-traded companies) and is a pretty natural outgrowth of broad interest in a topic, especially for people who are also interested in business in general.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
Xilium said:
I know this is a joke post
right?
...and it's precisely the kind of thing that having REAL SALES DATA would prevent. The 360 has been the #1 selling console in the US for the last 4 months (yes, I'm including the September NPD numbers we may never see), they'll have 3 or 4 of the top software titles for the quarter (COD, Halo, Fable, Assassin's Creed), and they'll have a highly profitable (at $150, it better be) hardware launch to crow about as well.
If anything I'd almost guarantee that MS releases gobs of data this fall.
Htown said:
And again, speculation based on anecdotal evidence. How is this better than facts?
People only hate numbers when they disagree with their preconceived notions.
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
anti-sales talk people clearly like the loser companies
One of my favorite things about NeoGaf was watching some greenhorn stumbling into a sales thread to blurt something out ridiculous and watching the posters with some knowledge lay the educational smack-down on them, backing up everything with numbers. Those days are gone.Reginald P. Linux said:
Hell Wii threads were already pretty terrible, now they're gonna be completely suffocated with trolling idiots.
RustyNails
Member
Mediacreate should start doing US numbers
TheKaeptain
Banned
In its first day.YuriLowell said:
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
In Canada.CaptYamato said:
YuriLowell
Member
CaptYamato said:
I wish.....
charlequin
Banned
gofreak said:
As an illustrative example, note how many people in this thread are already using invented conclusions as to the sales performance of Move and/or Kinect to support theories about the reasoning behind this move.
meh....at this point Sales-Age doesn't matter anymore this gen. Well, except to the fanboys. :lol
Nintendo reclaimed the console throne with the Wii. MS proved the Xbox brand is a force to be reckoned with. And Sony, well, Sony helped blu-ray win the HD war. Nothing will change other than the PS3 eventually taking #2 in a year (or two, or three). Big whoopdeedo.
EDIT: But yeah, NPD threads were always an enjoyable read on Friday mornings. So I will miss that.
Nintendo reclaimed the console throne with the Wii. MS proved the Xbox brand is a force to be reckoned with. And Sony, well, Sony helped blu-ray win the HD war. Nothing will change other than the PS3 eventually taking #2 in a year (or two, or three). Big whoopdeedo.
EDIT: But yeah, NPD threads were always an enjoyable read on Friday mornings. So I will miss that.
badcrumble
Member
This is good. From now on we should just use descriptive metaphors; anyone who speaks in literal terms about the industry in sales-age has broken the rules of The Game and should be banned.[Nintex] said:Gaming industry without NPD/sales numbers is like a football/soccer game without scores, a fish without weight, a racing track without a finish line etc.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
Pureauthor said:
This really is the only question. GAF got the 'special access' it did because NPD didn't really like the level of leaks GAF was getting (and youtube videos about it) so they threw a bone to tighten up on that.
Reginald P. Linux said:
I know you're being facetious, but it's not like there's never been court cases regarding publishers lying to developers about quantities sold to avoid paying royalties.
CitizenCope
Member
"Was at Gamestop at lunch today, guy bought one of them $299 360's. As he left I could hear his thoughts. Something about the PS3 being a much better value. He returned the 360 a minute later, got $249 for it and picked up 2 PS3's."
Now looking forward to the anecdotal thread.
Now looking forward to the anecdotal thread.
HylianScribe
Member
1) This stuff will leak if company provided data doesn't lead to a Top 10 sales every month and a breakdown of the platforms. No stopping that, somebody will find a way and do it anonymously through back channel sites.
2) Why isn't this shit done for free? Is Movie by Numbers official or is it a guess work site like the site with VG in its name? I don't get how that site exists for a medium as big as gaming and more established, but the video game industry has to resort to extortion to provide good data.
3) This is only going to lead to more people trusting other sources. People will do it out of necessity and spite. If they didn't release Metroid: Other M's data this Thursday, you can bet a ton of forums and sites will head on over to the banned site with VG in it, and report what that site claims Other M sold in its first month.
4) By doing this, and sites reporting conflicting #s, hopefully it will force developers to tip their hand if sites report lower sales figures than what is true.
5) Somebody please start up something to rival NPD. This is getting out of hand.
2) Why isn't this shit done for free? Is Movie by Numbers official or is it a guess work site like the site with VG in its name? I don't get how that site exists for a medium as big as gaming and more established, but the video game industry has to resort to extortion to provide good data.
3) This is only going to lead to more people trusting other sources. People will do it out of necessity and spite. If they didn't release Metroid: Other M's data this Thursday, you can bet a ton of forums and sites will head on over to the banned site with VG in it, and report what that site claims Other M sold in its first month.
4) By doing this, and sites reporting conflicting #s, hopefully it will force developers to tip their hand if sites report lower sales figures than what is true.
5) Somebody please start up something to rival NPD. This is getting out of hand.
perfectchaos007
Member
This is why monopolies in any industry are a bad thing. NPD needs competition
The Faceless Master
Member
if we get custom tags and 200 posts per page, i'm in!kswiston said:
SonOfABeep
Banned
it's very possible MS wants to hide the inevitable failure of kinect and it's software.
I think that the kinect bundle would be reported by NPD, as it's similar to Guitar Hero/Rock Band bundles in that it includes software.
I think that the kinect bundle would be reported by NPD, as it's similar to Guitar Hero/Rock Band bundles in that it includes software.
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
LosDaddie said:
Yeah, but, motion control wars!
sixteen-bit
Member
I read it on diggDraft said:
SonOfABeep
Banned
Xilium said:
Well, now they get to tell us how many units were shipped to stores, even though come january 15th or so we will see how every store has 50+ units sitting around collecting dust.
Nobody gives a shit about kinect.
If you think about it, the traditional gaming industry in general does have an interest in burying sales data as much as possible. Outside from massive success cases like COD, Halo and Nintendo's evergreen stuff, the vast majority of retail games (including medium and big budget ones) sells poorly. Very few investors are interested in funding individual consumer products which have incredibly short market lifespan, sell 500K~1M units worldwide and cost $5M~$20M to develop.
Hiding the data from the public space allow publishers to prepare their own cherry picked and highly decorated numbers in order to secure funding and please stock holders. It also makes it harder for people from outside the industry to start their own business in the retail space, since there's little public information on how the market reacts to what.
Hiding the data from the public space allow publishers to prepare their own cherry picked and highly decorated numbers in order to secure funding and please stock holders. It also makes it harder for people from outside the industry to start their own business in the retail space, since there's little public information on how the market reacts to what.
SonOfABeep
Banned
TheOddOne said:
They don't have to pay them, just put pressure on NPD to say hey, we don't think releasing this data to the public is the best idea.
Segata Sanshiro
Member
I expect since EL likely doesn't want to risk any kind of legal troubles, leaks still won't be allowed. NPD didn't have to throw us a bone at all, they could have just waved their lawyer wand, and since NeoGAF is owned by a private citizen who probably doesn't want to go to court over stuff like this, the leaks would be gone.MrNyarlathotep said:
But they made a deal. A deal that was agreed to in good faith, which NPD have now decided to completely reneg on. It's frustrating. Why make a deal if you're not committed to keeping your promise in the first place?
PeakPointMatrix
Member
Sales ninjas around the world, I expect things to be leaked the shit out of. Post it here. Thank you.
DevilWillcry
Member
or 100k :lolkinggroin said:
perfectchaos007
Member
I fear that in a few months time, some trolls will start saying "The ____ console is dead!" or "The ____ console has caught up to ____ console in sales!" and no one will be able to prove or disprove said claims. It will just turn into fanboy wars running without facts. I hope this doesn't happen though. At the very least, we need official data for the next generation of consoles
distantmantra
Member
rager said:
I like you.
SonOfABeep
Banned
rager said:
You know, assholes who are saying this, it is entirely possible to care about games a LOT and also be interested in how something like Vanquish sells so you know if maybe shinji mikami will continue to recieve money from publishers and do new games and new ideas.
I am so tired of hearing this "sales don't matter" argument.
SonOfABeep
Banned
TheOddOne said:
MS has a lot more sway with retailers and telling them what to report to NPD than NPD does. I don't understand why it's so crazy to think that Microsoft could tell NPD what to do in a not so subtle way.
test_account
XP-39C²
I think that NPD will still provide the numbers to those who pay for them. I think that NPD will only stop to show the numbers publically. I dont think that the investors will have any problem getting their hands on the NPD numbers even if NPD removes the public given numbers. Personally i dont think that this is the reason for why NPD removed some of the public numbers.Htown said:
EDIT: Come to think of it, did NPD ever give out public hardware sales numbers for console accessories? We will still get Top 5 selling software numbers at least (multiplatform titles are counted as one)
SonOfABeep
Banned
and just to clarify I'm not saying this is fact. Just a plausible scenario. Maybe Nintendo was telling them the same thing in the wake of flagging Wii sales? Maybe Sony as well if the move didn't take off like they hoped.. who knows?
Warm Machine
Member
If anyone would like to bury sales data it would be the person in last place. That said, I doubt this has to do with any of the players and more to do with NPD keeping things private so their subscriptions have more value.
B-Rad Lascelle
Banned
Which one of these guys is in the best position to make a move on NPD's hallowed gaming data ground? And what is needed to make it happen (i.e. cash infusion, manpower, creative approach to doing what NPD does but better/cheaper, etc.)perfectchaos007 said: